Afraid of change

Pete ThorneCHICAGO TRIBUNE

The Recording Industry Association of America is stepping way outside of its boundaries. It is LEGAL to share music. For them to go after individual fans is utterly despicable. For Loyola to turn those names in is even worse. The RIAA is on a witch hunt.

The Big 5 (Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, EMI Group, Warner Bros. Music and BMG Entertainment) chose to close their eyes and hope it would all just go away. Now that it hasn't, those companies are crying foul, first on the operators of the file-sharing sites and now on their consumers.

Their argument that their sales are decreasing is a loaded number. They are referring to total record sales. If you go to their Web sites you will find that full-length album sales continue to climb. However, sales of singles have seen a decline.

The RIAA's interest in this issue is almost solely based on the Big 5. The Big 5 have been able to control what consumers get to hear and what they get to buy for years. The Internet is putting those choices at the fingertips of the consumers. This scares the hell out of them, because they have no clue as to what the people want.